A translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church 28 Jan. 2007
1. In that day Jehovah will visit
with His hard and great and strong sword
upon Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
and upon Leviathan the winding serpent,
and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
2. In that day, “A desirable vineyard, afflict her!”
3. I, Jehovah, am her guard;
every moment I water her.
So that he doesn’t visit upon her,
night and day I guard her.
4. I have no wrath.
Who would give me a thorn of a brier in the battle?
I would step into her,
I would burn her up together.
5. Or he will get a strong grip in my protection,
he will make peace toward me, it will be peace he makes toward me."
6. The ones coming of Jacob He shall cause to take root,
Israel shall blossom and bloom, and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.
7. Has He struck it like the
striking of His striker?
Has it been slain like the slaughter of His slain?
8. By her measure, by exiling
her, You will contend with her;
He removed them with His hard wind in a day of the east wind.
9. Therefore, in that, the iniquity of Jacob will be atoned,
and this will be all the fruit: his sin removed:
when he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
the Asherim and incense altars will not stand up.
10. For the fortified city is
isolated,
a home exiled and forsaken, like the wilderness;
there
the calf will graze;
and there it will lie down and finish off her branches.
11. When her bough dries, it is broken in pieces; women come and make a fire of her.
For this is not a people of discernment;
therefore its Maker will not have compassion on it, and its Former will not show it favor.
12. And it will come about in that day that Jehovah will thresh
from the Flowing River [Euphrates] to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you, children of Israel, you will be picked up, one by one.
13. And it will come about in that day that a great shofar will be blown,
and those perishing in the land of Assyria
and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt
will come and worship Jehovah on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
A) Entirety of Ch. 27 has strong parallels to:
1) Isaiah 5-the parable of the fruitless vineyard
2) and to Jesus’ parable of the wheat and tares.
B) “In that Day” – v.1,2, then 12,13 eschatological, more than reconstruction
A) 66:16 “For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.”
B) Threefold virtues of the sword are for three enemies. The Serpent has been an antagonist since Genesis 3. Isa. 14:29 identifies it with world powers like Assyria and Babylon. Psalm 74 identifies dragon and leviathan as Egypt.
C) Leviathan was probably a dinosaur (described in Job 41) which would explain the worldwide incidences of dinosaur drawings and legends.
D) Conquering Leviathan in air (Job 26:13 mentions it as a constellation), land, and sea may represent God’s universal power, conquering all evil among inhabitants of the world (26:21). Delitzsch relates “fleeing” to Nineveh (Assyria) due to its situation on the rapids of the Tigris river, “twisting” to Babylon, situated on the winding Euphrates river, and “dragon” to Egypt, since it is used as a symbol of Egypt in Isa.51:9, Ps.74:13, Ezek.29:3 & 32:2.
A) The enemy sees God’s people and speaks of oppressing her.
B) (There is no song that follows, “afflict,” which is the more common meaning, fits better.
C) In 53:4-7, Jesus took on Himself our “affliction.” so Enemies can’t “afflict” anymore in 60:14
D) This is no longer the Jewish nation, the faithless vineyard of ch. 5 (tenants of Matt. 21) but the faithful church of the end times. God will guard her.
A) God guards His people so that the enemy doesn’t get us = theme of ch 26. Christ will defend His bride! See. Rev. 12 – God defending the church from the dragon.
B) Isa 51:21-23 hear this, you who are afflicted... the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; (23) and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors...."
C) 26:3 “keep in perfect peace”
D) “water” = opposite of 5:6 “command no rain”
E) The Gardener does not tolerate weeds in His garden. This doesn’t mean He hates His garden!
F) Isa 42:6 "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you”
A) Lots of different translations
B) BRIAR AND THORN
1. Symbol of wasteland in 5:6 & 7:23-25,
2. then symbol of sinful Israel in 9:18,
3. then Assyria in 10:17 “The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.”
C) “together” literally “one” is probably an ellipsis for “in one day” 10:17
D) You don’t mess with God’s garden and get away with it; He is a jealous God.
E) “Her” refers to f.s. “battle”
F) God is imminent – He will step into the battle and, of course, win it!
G) Parable of wheat & tares – Matt 13:30
1. “Who” sowed tares? Satan.
2. Judgment delayed ‘till harvest,
3. Wheat “gathered” and tares “burned”
A) 17:10; you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
B) 25:4 For you [God] have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat
C) But Some briar-like sinners (9:18, 10:17) God will save!-Young
D) How do we grab hold of this?
1. Through FAITH 35:3-4 “Cause the weak hands to get a strong grip... Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Get a strong grip; fear not!... your God will come with vengeance... He will come and save you."
2. through OBEDIENCE 56:2-6 Blessed is the man... who gets a firm grip, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil... And the foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah, to minister to Him, to love the name of Jehovah, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant. Quit bearing thorns; grow the fruits of the Spirit!
3. Yet remember it is GOD who strengthens: 41:9&13, 42:6, 45:1 (even Cyrus!)
A) “they that come”=KJV,LXX or “[In days to] come”=NAS,NIV,ESV
B) “blossom and bloom”
1. Israel's root & blossom dried out because they cast away God’s Law (5:24).
2. Philistia's root killed with famine (14:30), But not Israel’s b/c Messiah comes from the root of Jesse (11:1&10; 53:2),
3. And “the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (Isa 37:31) – this is why I favor the KJV translation of this verse
4. Allusion to Aaron’s rod “budding,” “blooming” and bearing fruit (Num.17:8)
C) God saves us in order for us to bear fruit for him:
1. Jesus’ Parable of the sower – “receive the word…bear fruit 100-fold” Mark 4:20.
2. “I am the vinegrower… bear much fruit” John 15
3. Rom 6:22 “you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
4. Col 1:6 “in the whole world [the Gospel] is bearing fruit and growing… since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth”
D) The quote from God ends here, and Isaiah prophecies: vs. 7-13 switch from the church in the end times back to the Jewish “root” of the church in the exile and reconstruction of the Old Testament times.
E) Partly fulfilled in the Jewish Reconstruction under Nehemiah; greater fulfillment in the church.
God struck Israel (1:5;5:25;9:13;57:17;60:10) But God “slew”
A) This East-wind withered Jonah’s shade, withered corn in Pharoah’s dream, and brought the plague of locusts.
B) God’s punishment of His people is different than that of His enemies:
1) It is carefully-measured chastisement, not unbridled wrath. “God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability…” (1 Cor. 10:13)
2) It is merciful: “exile” and “removal” when “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)
C) Remove/send away=Divorce=50:1
D) 57:16 I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.
E) God is in control, carrying out His plan.
A) The purpose (fruit) of God’s chastisement is stated: cleansing from idolatry. The goal of chastisement=no more idols!
B) This is not the
doctrine of penance but context of purification (Young):
40:2-“she has received double for her sin” and 1 Pet 1:3-9
C) Isa 17:6-9 “Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten… In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars… either the Asherim or the altars of incense. In that day their strong cities will be like deserted places…”
A) A snapshot of Jerusalem during the exile-Delitzsch (Some commentators think, however, that it represents a gentile city which will experience God’s wrath.)
B) cf. “exiled” v.8
Why?
A) 5:13 – “into captivity b/c they have no knowledge”
B) 22:11b “not looked unto its maker, nor had respect for Him that fashioned it long ago.”
A) Now Isaiah jumps forward in time, back to the end time he was describing in v. 1-6 (cf. Young “not… return from exile”)
B) New subject is emphatic “you” = the remnant and the church.
C) “Threshing”
1. is a separation process preceding “gathering” which parallels the parable of the wheat and tares.
2. Delitzsch - “Thresh” v.12 = knock out fruit w. husks which are too tender & valuable to be threshed – Isa. 28:27.
D) “From the River to the stream”
1. River=Euphrates, boundary to Persia
2. Stream of Egypt: i.e. Wadi el-Arish=Young / Rhinocorura=LXX
3. These are the original boundaries of Israel as per Gen. 15:8 &1 Kings 8:65 (Delitzsch)
E) “picked up”
1. Isa 40:11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms…
2. Ezek. 20:34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.
A) Shophar/trumpet:
1. First heard at the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, then at the commencement of the Jubilee years. It was a call to gather for war or assembly.
2. Isa 18:3 All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear! v.7 at that time tribute will be brought to the LORD on Mt. Zion.
3. Mat 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds..
4. 1Cor 15:52b For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
5. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with…the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
6. Rev 11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."
B) Gathering the exiles
1. “driven out” cf. “exiled” v.8&10 – into Assyria & Egypt
2. 56:7-8 “these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, ‘I will gather yet others...
C) Note the purpose God does all this: to get worship! (Young)
1. Eph 1:10-12 “plan for the fullness of time, to gather all things in [Christ]… the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.”
A) God fights the enemies of His people, so don’t fight against fellow believers, instead, get a firm grip in God Himself
B) God contends with His own people, so when you notice emptiness, exercise discernment and repent of idols in your life.
C) God fights to re-create His people, so walk in line with God’s purpose of gathering worshippers to Himself and life a life of praise and worship towards Him!